Violent Memory: Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Modern information technologies have radically transfigured human experience. The extensive use of mnemonic devices, for instance, has redefined the subject by externalizing aspects of inner consciousness. These transformations involve the incorporeal but deeply felt, violent dislocations of human experience, traumas that are grounded in reality but which challenge symbolic resources because they are difficult to articulate. I am interested in how the unseen wounding of mnemonic intervention is registered in the “impossible” language of speculative fiction (SF). SF is both rooted in the “real” and “estranged” from reality, and thus able to give form to impossible injuries. This paper argues that Haruki Murakami uses the mode of SF in his novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, to explore how mnemonic substitutes interfere with the complex process of remembering World War II in Japan. I will demonstrate how, through SF, Murakami is able to give form to an unseen crisis of memory in postwar Japan, a crisis marked by the unspeakable shock of war and by the trauma that results from the intrusion of artificial memories upon one’s consciousness of history.

Discussion: Making Sense of Public Sensemaking Relative to the COVID-19 Crisis

Disease outbreaks motivate human groups to engage in sensemaking efforts to give meaning to the event. These sensemaking processes often involve narratives framing where a disease comes from, how it spreads, and how to prevent and cure infections. At least four generic narratives are typically used as symbolic resources make sense of disease outbreaks: A medical science narrative and three lay narratives, i.e., (1) infectious disease as divine punishment, (2) infectious disease as caused by actions of outgroups (3) infectious disease as caused by evil elites. The contributions to this Special Issue are discussed in relation to this narrative sensemaking perspective.

Stacked Fields of Criminal Justice: The National Embeddedness of Transnational Policing

This article investigates how transnational policing is structured by the embeddedness of participating police units in national fields of criminal justice. Empirically, the analysis zooms in on the embeddedness and positionality of three different Danish police units that frequently engage in transnational cooperation. Positioned differently in the national field of criminal justice, these units have distinct capacities with regard to mobilizing and deploying material and symbolic resources and, consequently, have distinct modes of engagement with transnational policing. Conceptually expanding this insight to capture the structure of transnational policing more generally, this article develops the concept of “stacked fields” to capture how transnational cooperation and power relations are formatted by the national, institutional, and positional embeddedness of participating police units and agents.

PAISAGENS CULTURAIS E IMAGINÁRIO COMO RECURSO SIMBÓLICO DA CIDADE PEQUENA: um estudo sobre Triunfo, Sertão de Pernambuco

CULTURAL AND IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES AS A SYMBOLIC RESOURCE OF SMALL CITY: a study on Triunfo, in the Pernambuco BacklandPAISAJES CULTURALES E IMAGINARIOS COMO RECURSO SIMBÓLICO DE CIUDAD PEQUEÑA: un estudio sobre Triunfo, en PernambucoRESUMONesta pesquisa desenvolve-se o argumento de que paisagens culturais e o imaginário constituem recursos simbólicos a serem considerados na inserção da cidade pequena nas distintas redes urbanas do país. Paisagens culturais (incluindo os biomas locais), na amplitude do imaginário local, podem constituir potenciais recursos simbólicos que singularizam a cidade em sua condição genérica. Metodologicamente, adota-se uma perspectiva qualitativa de estudo de caso sobre o município de Triunfo, no sertão do Pajeú, em Pernambuco, por meio da qual buscamos compreender em que medida o imaginário pode atuar de forma a potencializar as paisagens em seu potencial simbólico e socioeconômico. A partir do campo cultural, a pesquisa desenvolve-se em prática interdisciplinar, na interface com geografia cultural, comunicação e antropologia do imaginário, com pesquisa de campo com ênfase em registro fotográfico como elementos constituintes do imaginário estudado.Palavras-chave: Paisagens Culturais; Imaginário; Recurso Simbólico; Cidade Pequena; Triunfo-PE.ABSTRACTThis research develops the argument that cultural landscapes and the imaginary are symbolic resources to be considered in the insertion of the small city in the different urban networks of the country. Cultural landscapes (including local biomes), in the breadth of the local imagination, can constitute potential symbolic resources that make the city unique in its generic condition. Methodologically, a qualitative perspective is adopted, a case study about the municipality of Triunfo, in the Pajeú “sertão” (hinterland), in Pernambuco, through which we seek to understand to what extent the imaginary can act in order to potentiate the landscapes in their symbolic potential and socioeconomic. From the cultural field, the research develops in interdisciplinary practice, in the interface with cultural geography, communication and anthropology of the imaginary, in a qualitative approach, with field research and the with an emphasis on photographic record as constituent elements of the studied imaginary.Keywords: Cultural Landscapes; Imaginary; Symbolic Resource; Small City; Triunfo-PE.RESUMENEsta investigación desarrolla el argumento de que los paisajes culturales y lo imaginario son recursos simbólicos que considerar en la inserción de la pequeña ciudad en las diferentes redes urbanas del país. Los paisajes culturales (incluidos los biomas locales), en la amplitud de la imaginación local, pueden constituir recursos simbólicos potenciales que hacen que la ciudad sea única en su condición genérica. Metodológicamente, se adopta una perspectiva cualitativa, un estudio de caso sobre el municipio de Triunfo, en el “sertão” (interior) de Pajeú, en Pernambuco, a través del cual buscamos comprender en qué medida el imaginario puede actuar para potenciar los paisajes en su potencial simbólico y socioeconómico. Desde el campo cultural, la investigación se desarrolla en la práctica interdisciplinaria, en la interfaz con la geografía cultural, la comunicación y la antropología del imaginario, en un enfoque cualitativo, con la investigación de campo y el con énfasis en el registro fotográfico como elementos constitutivos del imaginario estudiado.Palabras clave: Paisajes Culturales; Imaginario; Recurso Simbólico; Ciudad Pequeña; Triunfo-PE.

The origins of money and its role in modernity

Money is a human creation arising from organic, technological, and symbolic resources. The complexity of its operations makes it difficult to comprehend. The origins of money can be dated with some accuracy, but the social and symbolic processes that led to this world-changing invention are poorly understood. One of the most persistent misunderstandings that adversely affects modern economic thinking is that money emerged from barter. As will be discussed, the origins of money have more fundamental symbolic, social, and political foundations in statecraft, warfare, religion, and gift-giving. Moreover, money develops among beings capable of considerable flexibility in combining or “blending” ideas from diverse, sometimes incommensurate, domains of knowledge and experience, and specifically among a species for whom institutions—socially constructed habits of thought and action—are ontologically criterial. This chapter aims to provide a foundation for thinking about money as an institutional semiotic system. Topics covered include money and barter; sovereign money; money and gift-giving; money and violence; the money/language analogy; and international monetary exchanges.

Analysis of Ligeti’s Atmosphères by Means of Computational and Symbolic Resources

We report a music analysis study of Atmosphères (1961) from György Ligeti, combining symbolic information retrieved from the musical score and audio descriptors extracted from the audio recording. The piece was elected according to the following criteria: (a) it is a music composition based on sound transformations associated to motions on the global timbre; (b) its conceptual creative intercourse makes direct references to electronic music and sound/timbre techniques from the ancient Renaissance Music; and (c) its sonorities are explored by means of variations on the timbre contrast. From the symbolic analysis perspective, Atmosphères’ timbre content can be discussed considering the entanglement of individual characteristics of musical instruments. The computational method approaches the musical structure from an empirical perspective and is based on clustering techniques. We depart from previous studies, and this time we focus on the novelty curve calculated from the spectral content extracted from the piece recording. Our findings indicate that novelty curve can be associate with five specific clusters, and regarding the symbolic music analysis, three leading music features can be argued: (a) instrumentation changes; (b) distinct pitch chromatic set locations and (c) intensity dynamic fluctuations.

“Rethinking the Tradition”: about young believers seeking their own path within Islamic Spirituality

In the modern world, as noted by researchers (P. Berger, D. Hervieu-Léger, etc.), there is an increasing individualization of religion. Believers are increasingly constructing their own religion, using symbolic resources of different religious systems. The article describes three stories of young believers studying in Muslim educational institutions of Tatarstan. The paper also reveals the main stages of their spiritual quest. Young people are critically rethinking their own religious traditions. Their further religious choices turn out to be closely related to the changes in their personal lives and refer to the realization of their key life interests. A new understanding of religion gives young people a desire to benefit the entire Muslim community and provides them with an openness to social creativity. These stories show three options for rethinking a man’s religious tradition: the transition to Islam from Orthodoxy; creative combination of the postulates of Islam and Buddhism; and also a new understanding of Islam, different from that of the older generation.

Experiencing Change: Rhythms of Everyday Life Between Continuities and Disruptions

Change is a constant condition of everyday life that we experience and transition through while often maintaining a sense of stability and continuity. But inevitably we come across disruptive changes that call into question the meanings we take for granted and thereby rupture life as we know it. How do those changes affect our rhythms of living? How do we make meaning of the changes and subsequently act upon them? How do individual, social, and environmental changes reciprocally influence one another? These are the guiding questions of this paper. The questions are explored by means of a sociocultural psychological approach to ruptures in the life-course coupled with Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis. It is argued that those questions can be investigated within five interrelated analytical domains; time, space, the body, social others, and symbolic resources. Rather than primarily emphasizing adaptation to change, the analytical framework’s key focus is meaning-making, looking at how we integrate or resist new rhythms in our lives.

Фобия исламофобии как основа «критических мусульманских исследований». Как идеология превратилась в методологию изучения исламских сообществ на Западе

This article aims to deconstruct the research field of “critical Muslim studies” that is emerging within Western academic discourse. It seeks to expose the postcolonial injustices that Muslims are subjected to in the allocation of symbolic resources. Islamophobia is almost the dominant subject of research here, and the line between political activism related to the struggle for minority rights and academic knowledge becomes completely permeable. This article describes the epistemological foundations of critical Muslim studies and its conceptual language, developed by its proponents within the framework of postcolonial theory, related to the notions of racialization, Orientalization (and self-Orientalization), Eurocentrism and Westernization. The institutionalization of this trend is examined through selected European and American examples. Examination of the volume Islamophobia in Muslim Majority Countries demonstrates how left-liberal ideology, included in the production of academic knowledge, turns into a fully-fledged methodology that is desirable to a wide range of researchers.